Abbotsford Invalid Stout

Brewed by Carlton & United Breweries (CUB)
Style: Stout
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

I’m a beer drinker not a taster, this beer is easy to drink, goes down smooth and has beautiful flavour and aroma. Works well with and without food. I enjoy mine at the the end of the day while watching the idiot box. I love the fact that CUB hasn’t gotten around to modernising the labelling of this beer yet. Gives an impression that your drinking something that hasnt changed much in 40 or 50 years. Good thing that cricketers seem to to stick to Amber Ales.

Bootle 375ml. A very pleasant surprise from Carlton. Aroma is roasted malt, coffee, and dark chocolate. Flavour has a sweet start, with bitter and sweet notes at the end, and good duration. The body is light, and feels velvety in the mouth. Colour is black, and it has a thin white head that lasts all of the way.

750ml bottle. Dark reddish color. Low carbonation with big bubbles, almost no head. Good burnt taste. Light coffee notes! Good beer!

This beer came along at a time when a friend and i were trialing online purchases of rare and seldom seen beer. We had never seen this beer before, so...we thought it qualified. Just after having placed the order, we realised that it wasn’t an exotic UK stout or alike, but instead a dirty little secret of CUB. So, our expectations were a little shaky, but i must say, in my opinion this is a feisty little south paw from the sticks that punches way above it’s weight. Nothing like a mainstream stout, probably more of a hybrid stout/old, but very drinkable nonetheless.

<i<Bottled. Black with beige head. Aroma of coffee and dark chocolate. Dry and roasty with light body and a hint of ash and metal. There’s loads of coffee, and a hint of syrupy sweetness rounds it off. Despite all other Carlton beers I’ve tasted being crap I find myself liking this solid beer.

I’m surprised to see this rates so low. Dry coffee and roasty flavour with some rum and a mild but not sweet finish. Seems like the roasted malts cover up the typical CUB funk and whilst it’s not as in-your-face with the roasty tar flavours as some of the other big brand Aussie stouts the mildness makes a nice change. But the best thing about this beer is that it doesn’t matter how shit a pub you are at, they will always have some of this stuff in the fridge (unless it’s a Tooheys pub obviously.)

Bottle. Roasted malt and coffee on the nose. Dry roasted malt on the palate. A little thin, but an easy drinking stout.

for it’s price it’s a good Stout, after a taste you know why it’s a invalid stout.